Chennai Super Kings showed off their great bounce back ability on yet another occasion in the UAE leg of the IPL 2021, clinching victory after making a shaky start to the proceedings in Sharjah on September 24. The three-time champions began poorly with the ball but came out triumphant by six wickets at the end.
On a dryish Sharjah track, the Super Kings let RCB maximise the powerplay restrictions, with opposition skipper Virat Kohli and his promising young opening partner Devdutt Padikkal taking their team to 55/0 at the 6-over mark.
At this point, it seemed RCB’s powerpacked batting unit, including also Glenn Maxwell and AB de Villiers, will take the game away from CSK, whose pacers Deepak Chahar and Shardul Thakur couldn’t back up the accuracy and consistency shown by Josh Hazlewood during the powerplay.
This is where Ravindra Jadeja came to MS Dhoni and his team’s rescue, delivering a tight spell of 0/31 off his four overs. In the phase from over No.7 till the end of No.13 where Jadeja bowled from an end, RCB could only score 56 runs.
Jadeja’s miserly ways on a ground notorious for its small boundary dimensions soaked all the momentum out of RCB’s innings, as suddenly their batters were forced to try and over-attack against CSK’s pacers with the track beginning to dry out further.
Having made 33 off 21 balls in the powerplay, Kohli struck just another 20 runs off the next 20 balls that he faced before falling to Dwayne Bravo. Padikkal followed him for a 50-ball 70 after getting out caught against Thakur.
De Villiers (12) and Maxwell (11) also could not restore the momentum for RCB, losing their wickets to Thakur and Bravo, who were now really beginning to take advantage of the work that Jadeja had put in from an end during the middle overs.
Taking confidence out of his team’s comeback, Chahar came back strongly to dismiss debutant Tim David (1), while Bravo added Harshal Patel (3) to his kitty for the day and ensured CSK restricted RCB to just 156/6. Kohli’s men scored only 101 runs from 14 overs outside the powerplay.
Dhoni opted to bowl first at the toss, citing the strong probability of dew falling on the ground in the second half. And that is what exactly happened as, despite the few dry patches, the track in Sharjah played mostly true for the CSK batters to line up the RCB bowling attack.
CSK’s hero with the bat in the last match, Ruturaj Gaikwad, looked in great flow once again and made 38 off 26 balls. The young Indian batter added 71 runs for the first wicket with his experienced partner Faf du Plessis, who also made a useful 31 off 26 balls.
Gaikwad and Du Plessis were out in quick succession but the duo not only maximised the powerplay, they also ensured CSK had a platform to give to their middle-overs.
Now, unlike CSK with Jadeja, RCB had no one to really pull the game back in their team’s favour, with the dew also accentuating their troubles.
Yuzvendra Chahal had given RCB the breakthrough of Gaikwad when they desperately needed one, thanks partly to an excellent catch from Kohli at backward point region.
The leggie bowled reasonably well for his four-over spell of 1/26 but his spin partner Wanindu Hasaranga was a bit of a letdown for RCB. Hasaranga went for 40 off his 4 overs when he was expected to put the breaks on CSK batting and also chip away at the wickets column.
Moeen Ali (23) and Ambati Rayudu (32) carried the good work that Gaikwad and Du Plessis had done forward before Suresh Raina (17*) and Dhoni (11*) took their team home comfortably.
Brief scores
Royal Challengers Bangalore 156/6 in 20 overs (Padikkal 70, Kohli 53; Bravo 3/24, Thakur 2/29) lost to Chennai Super Kings 157/4 in 18.1 overs (Gaikwad 38, Rayudu 32; Patel 2/25, Chahal 1/26) by 6 wickets
